ThrobblefootSpectre:How about "pay what it's worth". A turkey sandwich for $9? yeah, go to the foodway grocery store across the street and get the same thing for $1.00. Difficulty: you have to put the meat on the bread yourself. So it's, like, more work.

THIS. Their food is ridiculously overpriced and they keep raising their prices. Fark them.

foxyshadis:Both subby and the article writer appear to have missed out on 2010 and 2011. It was big news on Fark way back when, by now I'd assume everyone knows about the steadily expanding pay-as-you-want phenomenon actually leading to higher overall revenue in yuppieville. Appealing to white guilt works!

I call it human empathy, but if "white guilt" works for you, that's fine.

robohobo:GBB: "Pay what you can afford"?? So, naturally, all the rich customers were paying hundreds for their meals, right??

Seriously, rich people are just so farking evil, right? How dare they have more money than other people!

Jesus, don't OD on the rage so early in the day. It ain't about you, you type-A, asshole.You think I would have posted this if the headline read "Pay what you want."?? Which do you think is more accurate: customers paying what they can "afford" or what they "want to pay"?

You mean a multinational corporate chain's food isn't actually created by farm wives picking and milling their own grains onsite while artisan bakers pull it out of the oven just as you order it? Who'd have thought. "It's not poisonous" and "tastes better than Wonder Bread" is all I'm expecting for the rare visit to Panera.

/Olive Garden breadsticks are also the only edible thing there; it's hard to fark up baked goods when the recipe is tightly controlled.//Homemade bread can be one of the world's tastiest creations, but I have no patience for kneading.

Kneading is rather relaxing and I love it. But, you can always make the dough in a food processor. In fact, it tends to do a better job.

So, basically, a bunch of stereotypical Panera customers and a bunch of stereotypical hobos wound up in the same place and now the Panera customers are scared of the dirty little people hanging around their free wifi.

Go write the novella you've been working on in public for the last six years somewhere else, then, dumbass. Maybe McDonald's has some free wifi.

"Oh lordy me! There are POORS all over my neighborhood now! The way they stand in line trying to get a good meal is terrifying! They're all over the sidewalk LOOKING POOR! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to meet some friends and stand outside of Bongo Room for 3 hours for brunch!"

Mentat:"I don't see any more of that now than I saw before at all," he explains. "Before it was all relatively affluent neighbors and now it's a mix of affluent neighbors and folks that aren't as affluent."

I think I've found the correlation.

PSSST! I think that guy over there might be a 47%er....don't make eye contact,

At some point corporate will figure out they are too much of a drain on the bottom line, profits will be down at their regular stores because prices will continue to be pushed upward hurting sales, and they'll go back to sending the leftover bread to homeless shelters again. That bit seemed to work very nicely for them over the years.

I used to live a block away from that Panera, and I'm certainly not affluent (even less so at the time - straight out of college). That area has always been a mix of rich older people, broke post-college kids, and plenty of crazies and homeless. I don't see how this really changes anything other than the fact that now the homeless guys walking around can get a free meal instead of hassling the richies for a few bucks.

E5bie:A mixer with a dough hook could knead it for ya, or a bread machine (but YMMV quality varies).I like kneading dough. It's like giving a sensuous massage to a sweet, quiet person you can eat later.

Heh.

Thing is, you can make better bread with the mixer/hook, because you can have the dough wetter.

You mean a multinational corporate chain's food isn't actually created by farm wives picking and milling their own grains onsite while artisan bakers pull it out of the oven just as you order it? Who'd have thought. "It's not poisonous" and "tastes better than Wonder Bread" is all I'm expecting for the rare visit to Panera.

/Olive Garden breadsticks are also the only edible thing there; it's hard to fark up baked goods when the recipe is tightly controlled.//Homemade bread can be one of the world's tastiest creations, but I have no patience for kneading.

It's still bread, any way you slice it. In a time of plenty we can eat much more healthy than the grain some of your ancestors settled with.

samardzic77:Willing to bet most of the people who have a problem with the increase in homeless traffic vote for Obama in a few weeks

As well, most of the people biatching in this thread would do the exact same if it was their own neighborhood. Smug liberalism is the weirdest thing to me, all you need to do is look at a a demographic map of New York City to realize virtually NOBODY likes to practice what they preach.

buckler:Wow. Welcome to three years ago, Subby. Panera's been doing this here since then. The only problem they had is with high-schoolers wanting to eat for free. They've since put a guy out front telling everyone that they are expected to pay for their meals. As I understand it, they're actually doing much better, money-wise, than the standard outlets.

Ummmmm well... Aren't high schoolers typically broke? Isn't the concept "pay what you can afford?", then wouldn't that be working as planned?

"Oh sorry sir, that wasn't what our corporate image intended"

How about college kids eating ramen three times a day? Now they can eat a decent healthy meal instead.

"No sorry, that doesn't count either, you still have to pay"

Hey I'm a regular middle class guy had an engineering job making 100k, got laid off now work two jobs without benefits, landscaping shoveling snow"

"no sorry, that doesn't count either. In fact, you'll have to pay more to cover our losses from giving so much free food away"

Jesus, this Panera thing is weirded than I thought. Pay what you can afford, but you still have to pay, or well kick you out. No that's not doublethink at all.

That's pretty funny. I actually did (Monticello & Fullerton) for 5 years. Lived in Buck town before that. Moved out of that fark-hole 6 years ago. The city and cook county went full retard years ago. I'll never live in cook again. Fark them.

SlagginOff:I used to live a block away from that Panera, and I'm certainly not affluent (even less so at the time - straight out of college). That area has always been a mix of rich older people, broke post-college kids, and plenty of crazies and homeless. I don't see how this really changes anything other than the fact that now the homeless guys walking around can get a free meal instead of hassling the richies for a few bucks.

To the first part, this. I lived a few blocks from that intersection for a few years, right out of college -- close to minimum wage, studio apartment. There are plenty of cheap apartments (in terms of amenities, not necessarily rental price) in the neighborhood, catering to a young crowd. There's also an assisted living complex about a block away, which likely isn't cheap (I haven't priced it), but has residents with little pocket money.

To the second part, not so much this. The bums don't stop hassling people just because they can get free food. Nor do they discriminate who they approach. That means it's plenty of poor older folks and younger women getting accosted by certainly dirty, potentially crazy guys hanging around.

gerrymander:SlagginOff: I used to live a block away from that Panera, and I'm certainly not affluent (even less so at the time - straight out of college). That area has always been a mix of rich older people, broke post-college kids, and plenty of crazies and homeless. I don't see how this really changes anything other than the fact that now the homeless guys walking around can get a free meal instead of hassling the richies for a few bucks.

To the first part, this. I lived a few blocks from that intersection for a few years, right out of college -- close to minimum wage, studio apartment. There are plenty of cheap apartments (in terms of amenities, not necessarily rental price) in the neighborhood, catering to a young crowd. There's also an assisted living complex about a block away, which likely isn't cheap (I haven't priced it), but has residents with little pocket money.

To the second part, not so much this. The bums don't stop hassling people just because they can get free food. Nor do they discriminate who they approach. That means it's plenty of poor older folks and younger women getting accosted by certainly dirty, potentially crazy guys hanging around.

You're right. I guess my main point was that it's not like the crowd in the area - especially that intersection - is not going to be much different than it has been for years.

SlagginOff:gerrymander: SlagginOff: I used to live a block away from that Panera, and I'm certainly not affluent (even less so at the time - straight out of college). That area has always been a mix of rich older people, broke post-college kids, and plenty of crazies and homeless. I don't see how this really changes anything other than the fact that now the homeless guys walking around can get a free meal instead of hassling the richies for a few bucks.

To the first part, this. I lived a few blocks from that intersection for a few years, right out of college -- close to minimum wage, studio apartment. There are plenty of cheap apartments (in terms of amenities, not necessarily rental price) in the neighborhood, catering to a young crowd. There's also an assisted living complex about a block away, which likely isn't cheap (I haven't priced it), but has residents with little pocket money.

To the second part, not so much this. The bums don't stop hassling people just because they can get free food. Nor do they discriminate who they approach. That means it's plenty of poor older folks and younger women getting accosted by certainly dirty, potentially crazy guys hanging around.

You're right. I guess my main point was that it's not like the crowd in the area - especially that intersection - is not going to be much different than it has been for years.

Wow I worded that poorly. The crowd is not going to change as a result of this initiative by Panera.